I bland händer något så osannolikt at man blir alldeles paff. Att George Bush, USA:s genom tiderna mest katastrofale och destruktive president inte bara för världen och det amerikanska samhället utan också för naturskyddet i USA nu har gått stad och skapat Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument , ett gigantiskt naturskyddsområde kring Hawaii är så osannolikt att de flesta säkert som jag trodde att det var ett skämt. Hade han dumpat oskyddat atombränsle i havet kring Hawaii hade det varit mer hans still.

Så den här händelsen, hur osannolik den än är, visar hur viktigt det är att vi inte låser oss fast i dogmatiska åsikter när vi försöker följa vad som händer i världen. Den visar också hur viktigt det är att vi kan modifiera vår omvärldesbild.

Det här är alltså ett mycket bra beslut som kommer att rädda havslivet kring Hawaii. Intressant nog var det Jean-Michel Cousteau, son till Jacques-Yves Cousteau och fader till Fabien Cousteau, alltså en av Bushs hatade fransmän, som fick Bush att gå med på att skapa det här gigantiska naturskyddsområdet.

Om vi nu bara kan få Jean-Michel Cousteau att få Bush att stoppa Irakkriget och sluta spionera på det amerikanska folket så kanske vi kan konmma någon vart.

Kenneth R. Weiss hade mer om den här nya nationalparken i Los Angeles den 15:e juni.

The decision is a turnaround for the administration, which five years ago considered stripping more limited protections from the area that President Clinton had declared a coral reef ecosystem reserve. It’s also a sharp departure for an administration that has pushed to privatize some federal lands and has designated less wilderness than most presidents over the last 40 years.

A turning point came in April, when Bush sat through a 65-minute private White House screening of a PBS documentary that unveiled the beauty of — and perils facing — the archipelago’s aquamarine waters and its nesting seabirds, sea turtles and sleepy-eyed monk seals, all threatened by extinction.

The film seemed to catch Bush’s imagination, according to senior officials and others in attendance. The president popped up from his front-row seat after the screening; congratulated filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of the late underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau; and urged the White House staff to get moving on protecting these waters.

“He was enthusiastic,” Cousteau said. “The show had a major impact on him, the way my father’s shows had on so many people. I think he really made a discovery — a connection between the quality of our lives and the oceans.”

The northwest Hawaiian Islands are a collection of reefs and 10 points of emergent lands — islands, atolls and pinnacles. Although the total emergent landmass is small, the isolation has kept these islands relatively undisturbed and increased their importance to wildlife.

About 14 million seabirds, including albatross and various species of terns, nest on the islands. Pods of spinner dolphins frolic in lagoons, leaping ahead of boats and making full twists in the air.

About 90% of Hawaii’s green turtles nest in these remote beaches, as do nearly all monk seals. So far, scientists have identified about 7,000 species in the Hawaiian Islands, about one-third of which are found nowhere else in the world.

All of these islands are part of the state of Hawaii, except for Midway Atoll, the site of the historic World War II battle, which is a U.S. territory. The United States has the power to control fishing in its Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends 200 miles from the nearest point of land.